Friday, May 30, 2014

The Crisis

Maybe
you haven’t noticed, because you were too distracted by unimportant articles by
other opinion writers, but things are pretty bad right now. In fact, many
people believe that things are worse than ever.

What
has caused this crisis in things? Is there any way that we can work to improve
things, or should we give up on things altogether? And who should we hold
responsible? Is it fair to lay the blame for things on any one individual, or
are we all responsible for the deterioration in the situation, by our very
complacency?

Of
course there are those who will scoff at the idea that things are worse, saying
it’s simply a crisis confected by those in the crisis business. No doubt,
despite the compelling evidence that things are terrible and matters will have
to hit rock bottom before they get worse, many people will dismiss it as so
much uninformed hysteria. And yet it’s not them who’s writing an op-ed about
it, is it? When it comes to talking about things, I think I prefer to be guided
by the advice of people with opinions rather than people who are obviously
wrong. And unlike other crises, this crisis is very much at crisis point. All
indicators are suggesting that things are the worst they’ve been since records
have been kept. Many modern studies show that not only are things bad, but are
expected to be more bad before a certain amount of time has elapsed. Just look
at the figures. Don’t try to understand them, just look at them. Scary, aren’t
they? And if you aren’t frightened by the tone of my rhetorical question, can
there be any doubt that you’re just stupid? Facts don’t lie, and you can be
sure that of all the facts that don’t lie, the ones that don’t lie the loudest
are the ones that agree with me.

How
did we let things get so out of control? How did we allow stuff to reach this
point? What is it about matters and issues that have triggered this sharp
decline in the state of subjects? Can it be fixed? And if not, can it be
complained about?

Experts
suggest that not only is their expertise definitely real, but the current
turmoil besetting the thing sector could have serious ramifications, not just
for people, but for children, women, parents, seniors, the unemployed, the
underemployed, the childless, feminists, homosexuals, heterosexuals, transgenders
and public servants of colour. The important thing to understand is that this
problem doesn’t just affect everyone, it affects you.

It’s
easy to be cynical in these days of being cynical about things, but there is
one thing for sure: being cynical will not get us into any mess it didn’t get
us out of. This doesn’t mean there should be any kneejerk reactions. In fact
Anne Staples of the Kneejerk Reaction Studies Group says that kneejerk
reactions are one of the last things we should be engaging in. Other things we
should avoid are hyperbole, understatement, overt racism, sarcastic remarks and
sugarless cordial.

Sure,
it’s true that we’ve had bad things in the past, but the difference is that
these days we have the internet, allowing things to be bad faster and more
conveniently than ever before. And if you’re not angry about that, you’re not
only wrong, you’re a bigot.

And
indeed bigots are all around us, telling us things aren’t as bad as we know
they are because we saw it on Facebook. But what can we do with bigots? Attack
them physically? Yes.

How
much responsibility does the government bear for the issues which are tearing
apart our families and self-esteem even as we type these articles? A quick look
at the current landscape in Canberra reveals hills. But what does that tell us?
If the government won’t take action when we sincerely believe something is
wrong, then who will? The answer is that it is up to all of us to sign
petitions until somebody makes us feel nice, and there’s no point pretending
otherwise. Knowledge is power, and only when we are empowered will we feel
truly in control of our feelings.

If
you don’t believe me, listen to this story about something that happened to me
just yesterday at a restaurant. An isolated incident? Perhaps, but what about
what happened to my friend at the gym? Coincidence? Surely it is impossible to
ignore these and the countless other anecdotes which for all we know exist and
are true. If you disagree, maybe you should check your privilege. And if you disagree
again, maybe you should shut up.

In
short, if we want to reverse this irreversible trend towards things being
horrible and everyone panicking, the time has come to put aside our differences
and write as many words as possible about whatever pops into our heads before
it’s too late. Time to make a difference. Don’t let the death of someone who
probably died once be in vain. Stand up for something against something else. The
people have spoken. In particular, this one.